Joe Rogan | Entertainment Has to be Diverse Now w/Jim Gaffigan

If you want to know about a person, say if it's a politician or an actor or a comic or whoever you're writing about, the idea that you're going to figure them out with just a few hours of Google searching is kind of crazy. It's absolutely crazy. And the rush is to define someone in either very flattering or very unflattering ways. That's really where most of the energy goes. Most of the stories are either hit pieces or they're fluff pieces that seem to be propped up by a publicist. Yeah, there is, I feel as though, like I did this movie that came out, it was just a small indie comedy where I was a guy who had two separate families and they didn't know about each other. So it's like he's a good guy. No, but he had two families. And it's a comedy. It's set in the 90s and the reviews that didn't like the movie, that didn't surprise me or the criticisms. But a lot of the reviews were kind of, there was a tone of like, how dare this white male have two family. They couldn't get beyond, like it wasn't, like they would insert like a social commentary onto a platform that was not for that. Do you know what I mean? There was a portrayal of, and there were great female actors that played my wives. And there was some reviews, they're like, they underserved them. And it's like, you know, the movie was really about my character and his son, you know? And but like people were frustrated about story, but because of the day we live in, it had to be kind of deciphered through this kind of social critique that is just absurd. And it wasn't here and there. It was a lot of reviews like that. Well, they feel like there's an obligation to discuss that now too. If they feel like there's some sort of an imbalance sexually, like between genders on a television show or intersectionality, if it has something to do with race or gender or politics, they feel like this is something that must be discussed. And one of the things that I hear from friends that are very frustrated is that when they pitch shows, when they pitch shows to the network, if they have a story, an idea, like this is what we're trying to, this is the thing. They're like, okay, where's the diversity? Yeah. It's like one of the first questions. They're like, well, it's about an Irish family that lives in the Bronx. Like I don't know what to tell you. Yeah. You know, it's, this is what the story is about. Like, well, where's the diversity? Like you have to insert diversity to meet their criteria. Like you can't just have a, you can have a story as long as the person's, like you could have a story about a Haitian family and it'd just be all about the Haitian family. No one's going to say, well, what about white guys? We need to get some white guys on the show. No. Because if you inserted the white guys, then it's the white savior story. So you can't be the white guys. Yeah. And you just can't wait until we're done with all this. I mean, maybe it, maybe it'll be long after we're done, long after we're dead. Yeah. But when there's no more racism and this is no longer a viable storyline and they like, no one gives a fuck if you're Chinese or Indian or from Pakistan, we legitimately don't care. They're just different varieties of people and there's no judgment whatsoever. I can't wait for that time. Until then, we just have to deal with these observed people that peddle in this, this narrative that you have to have, you know, X amount of, like I, I was reading some things where someone was saying that I should run for, I should moderate the presidential debates. That would be amazing. And someone's, it's never going to happen. You'd make them all smoke pot before you start. For sure. It's never going to happen. But someone said, why do that when you can give it to a talented black woman? I'm like, okay, I'm out. We're out. We're not, we're not talking about that. And by the way, here's the thing. It's, and I think you'd agree with me. I do think there's an imbalance and we do have to correct it. Yes. I think that like, you know, and it's great that we have the knowledge and the foresight, but humans, we're just clumsy. We're just clumsy, you know, with, you know, we're just like, oh, let's just stick this here. When, when, you know, creativity is much more complex than that. Like even, even any comedian, we could have Carrot Top here. There's a nuance on every joke he does. Like people can sit there and be dismissive, but like, he's like, you know what, I can't do that joke before I do this joke. Yeah. Whereas people just think it's like, no, just stick this in there. Stick a speech in there. But I almost feel is like when Green Book won, because I saw it after the fact, I was like, because, you know, like there's this, this belief of, oh, you know, if you play a disabled person, you win. And but it's much more of like that movie winning was like, oh yeah, you know, it's, you know, the great crime of America and race. So it brings that up. It also deals with, you know, homosexuality and like the struggle of that, which is profound. I can't even contemplate it. But it's like, that's why the movie won. And it was also, we love Italians. America loves Italians. Hey, you got to talk like this. Who doesn't love that? Who loves Italians? They love Boston. And you know, that's, you know, that's, there's certain things that America loves. So I was like, oh, that's why it won. I'm not saying it's a bad movie. I'm not saying Viggo wasn't great. I'm just saying that's why it won. Yeah. And it's weird. It is a little weird. But on the other hand, one way to look at it is the, like, the idea that there can be no darkness without light, right? There can be no, there can be no real appreciation of true diversity without an understanding of racism. Like, to have it around in its ugliest form makes you appreciate the people that don't express that, that aren't racist, that are just even-keeled people that appreciate everybody. Well, you know, there's also this too, is that, you know, I tend to lean left. I'm pretty liberal socially. And but, and, you know, when Trump was elected and like there was the women's march and all this stuff, there was this, I had this thought process of like, how do I, how do I, you know, how can I contribute? How can I help make this country better? Which just sounds grandiose, which it is. But the thing is, it's like, I'm not changing anyone's mind. I really believe that. It's like, and if anything, I think at my shows, it's like people are kind of like, huh, break from it. Yes. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's, we're all thinking about it all the time. They're like, all right, there's a tariff, a Chinese tariff. What does that mean? I don't know what that means. Is that, are American farmers destroyed? What's going on? But like, when they come to my show, they don't want me to rehash it. Yes. No, I think that's one of the keys to your success is that you provide a vacation. Yeah. A fun, silly, well thought out, comedically brilliant sort of vacation from the nonsense of today. But also pointing out that humans are, we're absurd. Yes. We're stupid. Yes. Yeah. We are so stupid. Like, we just think, humans think we have, every generation, we think we have it figured out. Yeah. That's like the, the, the sure-edness of people makes me concerned. Like, you know, there were people at a time that were like, here's how we serve the, how, how we solve the flu is we're going to put these leeches on people. Trust me, it's working. Like they, they were convinced that would work. Yeah.